It is well known in the art to provide a teeth prosthesis for a lower or an upper maxilla, the teeth prosthesis being of the type comprising an infrastructure, a suprastructure and means for removable attachment of the suprastructure with the infrastructure.
More particularly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,505 (FORTIN) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,070 (FORTIN), which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,505, relate to a teeth prosthesis, a method of manufacture thereof and a method for mounting and removing a suprastructure thereof. These patents disclose a teeth prosthesis for an upper maxilla including an infrastructure, a suprastructure, and an assembly for removable attachment of the suprastructure with the infrastructure. The infrastructure includes at least three implants, one connection bar, and an assembly for removably fastening the connection bar with and against the head of each of the implants. The suprastructure includes a first member made of cast metal or alloy having an intrados provided with an opening giving access to a housing of such size and depth to allow the housing of the connection bar therein, a second member permanently attached to the first member, and a set of teeth fixed to the first member and the second member. The assembly includes two first fastening members, and a second fastening member. The invention is also directed to a method for the manufacture of such a teeth prosthesis.
However, even though aforesaid prior art teeth prosthesis can perform correctly when installed on the lower or the upper maxilla, the different elements of the teeth prosthesis have to be specifically machined to fit in each user's mouth. This machining involves a very high production cost because each element of the prosthesis must be customised for each user. Moreover, the involved machining procedure is very complicated and it has been demonstrated that the manufacture of such a teeth prosthesis is extremely difficult from a technical point of view. Furthermore, if a user loses an implant, it is actually quite difficult and expensive to replace it, or even impossible with appropriate precision, since all elements are customised. In most cases, the whole assembly must be replaced.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a teeth prosthesis wherein most of the elements are not customised, but are standard. This would allow supplying a more accurate teeth prosthesis to the user at an equivalent or cheaper cost. Moreover, this would also allow providing such a new technology available for most dental laboratories. Furthermore, since the elements of the prosthesis are not customised parts, it would be faster and cheaper to repair the teeth prosthesis with the same precision as the existing prosthesis.